Welcome to the 'One Hour Sonic' challenge!

This is a forum where fan artists of 'Sonic the Hedgehog' take initiative in seeing an improvement on their drawings over multiple OHS exercises. One Hour Sonic consists of artists participating in a ONE HOUR exercise of drawing a Sonic fan art piece of any shape, form, depth or concept whilst following rules as outlined below:



Rules to the 'One Hour Sonic' challenge

Use any graphics software of your choice (Adobe Photoshop, Paint Tool SAI, Open Canvas). Go for a horizontally (900 x 720px) or vertically (600 x 800px) aligned canvas. If you got a screen recording program (e.g. Camtasia Studios), open that up and get ready to capture your exercise in real-time.
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Go to Online Stopwatch to use as your official timer for the exercise. When you're ready to go press 'record' (on your screen recording program) and 'start' on your online stopwatch to begin.
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Start drawing away! Don't worry about making mistakes - just keep going (it's all part of the exercise as you can improve on your next run!). Save the file you're working on at any time during the exercise (i.e. Ctrl+S). Be sure to keep at a good pace and try not to get distracted by anything other than your drawing. I usually create set song playlist that lasts for an hour to keep me in good rhythm - plus it lets me know when it's almost times up!
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When you're done, save your work, press stop on the stop watch as well as your screen-recorder. Upload your finished drawing (even if it's not complete - you still have to post it up) and (if you were recording your work) your video on a Youtube account!
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Go to Other Things to Consider for official rules updates/add-ons (it is found just below you, indicated with a ). Also any new rule that are implemented/updated according to the date at present will have no effect on entries prior to the establishment of the new rule.



Extra Challenges (do these if you're confident to turn the challenge up a notch!)

Level 02:

At the beginning of each exercise (right after clicking START on the online stopwatch/timer) try to come up with 3 different concepts in sketches before doodling your official piece.
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Try to include at least more than one character per challenge.
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Complete the piece with a tangible & non-abstract background.

Level 03:

Complete the challenge along with the extras within 45 minutes. (Hell even I couldn't do this yet! But maybe someday!)



My Personal Archive (here are some examples of my own, each with complete video links)





Other Things to Consider

Be sure to TITLE/TAG every drawing you make with OHS #--- or One Hour Sonic # ---, this will make it easier for us to decide whether an OHS entry is genuine or not. It is encouraged that you come up with a unique name to your deviation when tagging it with OHS/One Hour Sonic. Also please indicate roughly how long it took for you to complete your drawing in your descriptions also. _{(Updated! - added in 27th FEB 2013)}
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 NO TEXT/TYPE allowed in your drawings with the following exceptions: artist's signature; type that is used to portray a logo/commercial writing in the background or object (like a poster); and artistic application of text e.g. graffiti on the wall or finger writing on a sandy beach. _{(Updated! - added in 27th FEB 2013)}
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Sorry, no humanised versions of Sonic universe characters. Also no drawings of human characters other than the ones featured officially in a Sonic game (e.g. Maria Robotnik)._{(Added in 10th MAY 2012)}
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No yaoi please (e.g. Sonadow). Same goes for the opposite sex. This is a fun and friendly themed gallery which can be kick-ass on it's own!_{(Added in 10th MAY 2012)}
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No excessive violence please. Though mild violence is alright especially when done in the right context. And no hentai obviously._{(Added in 10th MAY 2012)}
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Unfortunately OHS only accepts hand drawn images. Photography & sculpting at this point of time, I feel, would deviate from the original concept. _{(Updated! - added in 20th JAN 2012)}
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Sorry, no fan-characters please. Strictly Sonic universe characters. Other characters from video gaming/cartoon universes are allowed but they will be submitted under the Special Cameo folder. Thanks! _{(Updated! - added in 18th JAN 2012)}
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Comic submissions are not allowed. Doing works of this nature would not match the concept of a 'One Hour Sonic'. Though there are exceptions on use of dialogue and paneling in a drawing. Please try to keep it to a minumum. We will remove any 'comic page' styled submissions with accordance to the 'founder' & 'contributor's' discretion. _{(Updated! - added in 17th JAN 2012)}
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It is not essential to screen-record your progress however it'll be great if you could because a) it is evidence that you did the submission in 60 minutes or less and b) it is a fantastic learning tool for those who want to understand and learn how you conduct your artistic process. _{(Updated! - added in 16th JAN 2012)}
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If you cannot do this by digital means you're more than welcome to complete the task using traditional means. What I mean by this is that you can do it the old fashioned way and still achieve the same results - pen + paper + scanner + timer. Nothing should stop you from giving it a go!
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Anyone can enter and there is no particular due date or start time - you can do this whenever you like, though my thoughts are that it's best to draw when you're inspired, feeling creative or just want to practice your drawing and colouring techniques.
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Do as many 'One Hour Sonic's as you want! Probably when you get to 20 entries you'll see a major difference in your work over the year - it's all about improving one's technique and having a great time doing it.

It only takes one hour of your week, there's no excuse!